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COPYRIGHT DEPOSnV 



THE 
UNFORGOTTEN 



By 
ANSTISS CURTISS GARY 



DE LAURENCE, SCOTT & CO. 
CHICAGO 



7^3 



ri3 



.^^^^f, 



LiBRAHY of CONGRESS 
Two CoDies Received 

Copyritfnt Entry 
CLASS CU ^Xc- No. 



J 



Copyright 1909 
BY ANSTISS CURTISS GARY 



To That Other One 

Who 
Has Lost a Friend. 



FOR NONE OF US LIVETH TO HIMSELF, 
AND NO MAN DIETH TO HIMSELF. 

Romans 14-7. 

And no man by himself alone journeys unto 
the Silent Land. 

For, of his friends, one may forebode the sep- 
aration, and some may accompany him to the 
Borderland, and to another one the world can 
never seem the same again because of his de- 
parture. 



THE PARTING OF THE WAYS. 

Your way and my way 

The parting waits, 
Life's way and Death's way 

And Love's way and Fate's. 

Your way and my way 

Yet may come right. 
Love's way and Fate's way 

May reunite. 

Life, Love and Death's ways 

Meet once and then — 
Never the same ways, 

Never again ! 



w 



HEN the twain are one flesh 
And the flesh is riven 
Where shaU peace be found again 
This side heaven ? 



When the twain are one soul 
And the soul is rent 
How shall one God's heaven find ? 
How one be to earth resigned 
Through time's banishment ? 



THE SEPARATE. 

At the parting of the ways 
Life goes on with Love, nor stays 
To behold where Death makes claim 
To his habitude and name. 

Day by day, and year by year 
Death exacts an homage drear. 
"What was Love's is mine," says Death. 
And his right none gainsayeth. 

At the parting of the ways 
One goes on with Life, one stays 
Talking on with wearied breath 
Of old memories with Death. 



11 



12 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



COMPARISON. 

Two are better than one 

For the labor's own reward 
For, if one fall, a hand 

Is near to help afford, 
And if one call a voice 

Gives answer to his need. 
But woe to the one alone 

With none to aid or heed.* 



Two are better than one — 

Unless it may sometime xhance 
The light of the sun grows dim 

As the bitter days advance, 
When the comradeship is rent 

And the power of the grave is shown. 
Can a man his past forget. 

Or be warmed or cheered alone ? 



*RcclesiasteR 4-9-11. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 13 

Two are better than one, 

Until one stands bereft 
Viewing the mantle worn 

And the staff that his friend has left. 
But not till the journey's end 

Shall this truth attest the one. 
Till the grave-clods reunite, 

And the numbering is done. 



14 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



IMPERFECTION. 

All dim and blurred the pictures came, 
That should make visible to me 

The cause of honor and of shame, 
The mills of mirth and misery.* 

On went Life's grinding while I lay — 
With halting heart and failing breath — 

In solemn majesty of clay 

Waiting my guest, the angel Death. 

I had been told by wiser men 
Than I, that at the last I should 

Review Life's varied pictures then, 
In still, unfretted quietude. 

But, though the pictures came and went, 
I partly glimpsed, nor wholly saw. 

Because a sense of discontent 
Infringed upon the ancient law. 



*"The mills of the gods grind slowly but they grind ex- 
ceeding small." 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 15 

It must have been a hindering sound — 
As some one near me grieving wept, 

'I cannot give you to the ground," 
That blurred the pictures ere I slept. 



i6 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



BECAUSE. 



Because you never saw this place I rest me 

Within its walls. 
No memory whispers, ''Here his arms caressed 
me." 

When twilight falls 
1 do not hsten for the sound of feet 
That never, nevermore my ears shall greet. 



Because the eyes I loved ne'er saw the lighting 

On door and sill 
Of foreign sunlight, our lives disuniting 

Grows fainter still. 
Ah, now the sight of bush or rock or tree 
We saw together smites and tortures me. 



Because no echo of your voice drifts sharply 

Across my sense 
Within these rooms, where my life goes on darkly 

In vain pretense 
At being life — I transgress being's laws, 
And breathe — though you are dead, because — 
because. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 17 



ACROSS THE WOLD. 

Across the Wold uprolls the mist, 

And the famihar scene of old 

Waits, changeless, through a twilight cold 
Of changing grays and amethyst. 
By a last, loitering sun-ray kissed, 

Ere Night's advancing hosts enfold. 

Across the Wold, across the Wold, 

The day-viewed scene to grief changed eyes 
Smites with a lagging, dull surprise. 
All unfamiliar is unrolled 
Home's clustered sphering manifold. 
As seen for the first time it lies. 



Across the Wold there shines the light 

That should mean Home, if Home could be 
On any rood of earth for me. 
I move toward it through the night 
And know the while that, on my sight, 
A wisp fire flaunts its mockery. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 



THE SHADOW. 



The man first noticed it the day Love came to 
dwell with him. Thereafter he saw it every day. 
It lay between them — always between them. It 
was not subject to the law of shadows, it made 
no difference where the sunlight gleamed, the 
Shadow was always before Love; and when the 
man understood this he was unhappy. 

"Do not notice it," said Love ; *'See, it does not 
harm me." 

''Not yet," said the man. 

"Forget it," said Love, ''do not let it spoil our 

joy." 

"I do forget it," said the man. "I could not 
live and always remember that some day it will 
surely separate us. O Love, we cannot tell which 
one it waits for ! It matters not in one sense — 
since the parting is while Life lasts — ronly one of 
us must live on, and remember." 

"Forget it," said Love. 

"I do forget it," said the man. "I could not 
live and remember." 

But he did not forget, and he lived many years 
with Love, and the Shadow rested before Love 
and Time passed on. 

And then one dav the man called Love and 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 19 

Love did not answer him ; and he sought Love 
and Love was not in the garden. 

And then he knew he must find comfort in the 
thought he had so often held when Love was with 
him in the vanished years. 

"Now it has come," he said. *'I need no longer 
fear. The Shadow will have gone with Love," 
he cried ; ''I shall never see it again." 

He lifted up his head and his eyes sought all 
the places where the Shadow had lain. But the 
Shadow had gone with Love, and there was no 
trace of it in the garden. 

The Shadow and the fear it had held for the 
man were gone from Life and the man was free 
from them. He told himself this as he walked 
to an fro. 

'M am free," he said. 'T am free forever- 
more from the Shadow." And he turned to go 
on. And as he turned there smote upon his 
face and shone upon the future years, the change- 
less glare of the sunshine. 



20 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



PREFIGURED. 



O Death, where is thy victory ? 

Thou hadst it long before 
Were shut the windows of his soul 

And sealed the Temple door. 



Thou hadst it in the fear that cast 
A shadow o'er the years, 

Thou hadst it in my prescient, 
Anticipative tears. 

O Grave, where is thy victory? 

O Death, where is thy sting? 
Since I no more thy menace fear 

And ceased his suffering. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 21 



LIFE'S MOCKERY. 

There was a jest, and somebody laughed, 

It was not I, and it was not you 
As Death's chill cup of defeat you quaffed — 

There will be others ere Time is through. 
The Great Designer was satisfied, 

And the plan stupendous moved on apace, 
Though every morning some lover died 

And the evening desolate proved his place. 

There was a jest, and somebody wept, 

It was not I, for my tears were shed. 
But, through Life's joyance a horror crept. 

And the living envied the quiet dead. 
The Great Designer made worlds anew. 

Nor paused to hearken an old world's scorn, 
But one was glad when the tale was through. 

And the dead smiled on at tl;ie jest outworn. 



22 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



THE TRAITOR. 



Before you went to that country- 

Ever so far away — 
The land of the great Hereafter, 

Where God and the angels stay, 
Time, in the old, sweet living, 

For trusted friend we had. 
And never his hours were weary, 

And ever his days proved glad. 



Time, through his sunlit seasons. 

Granted our hearts' delight. 
Or, if the mist or the tempest 

Blotted the world from sight, 
Never his garb we noted, 
. Hearing only his speech 
Uttering Love's evangel 
Within the heart of each. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 23 

But now, the friend that I trusted 

Is turned mine enemy. 
A thousand years seems the daytime, 

And the night eternity. 
The sunHght shines on my sorrow, 

The mists hide not my pain 
Since you went to that far-off country, 

And Time and I remain. 



24 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



REALITY. 

When I touched you, 

Heard you breathing, 

Saw Love's signal gleam 

Through your every act and feature, 

Life was but a dream. 



Now I miss you, 

List'ning vainly, 

While I reenact 

All the vanished, sweet illusion, 

Death the onlv fact. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 25 



THE BARRIER. 



Sometimes I can forget — 

For a brief moment's space- 
Sometimes for me life yet 

Summons its former grace, 
Sometimes you seem but gone 

From my sight for a day, 
And time moves gently on 

In the old tranquil way — 



But when I lay my hand 
On the latch of the door, 

Ah, then I understand. 
Never again, no more! 



When the wind and the sleet 
Bluster and wail and sigh. 

When on the dreary street 
Hasten the passers by, 



26 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



When the fire and the lamp 
Beckon, softly agleam, 

Out of the dark and the damp, 
Into the twilight's dream — 



Then for a second's time 

I greet you, claim you, Oh, then 
Stilled is the heart heat's chime 

Never, never again! 



Shadows thicken and fall, 

Footsteps loiter or haste, 
Voices murmuring call 

While the slow moments waste. 
You may be there, be near, 

With me it may be well, 
Lulled from the Future's fear. 

Lapsed in the Present's spell. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 27 

Hoiv can the heart withstand, 

In the shade of the door, 
Knoivledge of griefs demand? 

Never again, no more! 

Barrier, final, strong, 

Bar of the commonplace, 
Destined to hold Death's wrong 

Ever before Life's face. 
I can believe away 

From the grim portal's shade, 
Fashioned to swift betray 

Hopes of the Spirit made. 

Hark to the step I hear! 

Open to Love the door. 
Barrier, fatal, drear, 

Never again, no more! 



28 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



RELINQUISHMENT. 



In the old days — before you went 
Where time is not — I mind me well 

The merry moments that we spent 

In one dear, foolish pastime's spell. 

When the sun rose to fill the brim 
Of our lives' joyous loving-cup, 

We stood each morn to welcome him, 
The while we wound the watches up. 



And who was right, and which went slow? 

The grave discussion waged, until 
We set them both, with laughter low. 

Adjusted to one moment still. 
That moment will not come again. 

Lost is Time's spell, drained is the cup. 
No more within the world of men 

I stand to wind the watches up. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 29 

This one was yours and that one mine. 

Mute, silent lie they 'neath my hand. 
Why should I seek to still combine 

Their sounds I dare not understand? 
Broken and jarred the Perfect seems 

Where I alone life's anguish sup. 
rill with you where God's sunlight gleams 

No more I wind the watches up. 



so THE UNFORGOTTEK 



IRREVERENCE. 



Last night I made a mock at Death 

I visited and laughed 
With one who but this morn his cup 

Of quietude hath quaffed. 

If I had known Death drew so near, 

With what respect had I 
Touched reverently the hand of one 

Who was so soon to die. 

The words we said, the very tone 

Of voice she used I keep. 
I might have sent some better word 

With her to voiceless sleep. 



THE UN FORGOTTEN 31 



SUBSTITUTION. 



Marry again? and what should marry, 

A frame outworn and a grief-strained breath, 
A heart that labors and strains to carry 

Some half won hope from the grasp of death? 
''Thus did we : Here kissed we :" what new lover 

Is strong to fashion a life anew? 
The best is hid in the great Earth Mother : 

The worthy living is done and through. 



Marry again? to trick and cheaten 

The sullen sense with a fainter fire, 
To fool the thought when the life is beaten, 

To quicken loathing to base desire? 
'Thus did we: Here kissed we" — what new 
striving 

May waken love when his truth is dead ? 
What strain, what effort, what new conniving 

May quicken passion evanished? 



32 THE UNFORGOTTEN 

Marriage call not the second cleaving ; 

Name it convenience, liaison, pact. 
The heart that turns from its great bereaving 

In lesser union to reenact 
Chastity, purity, knows not marriage ; 

It lives unworthy, it dies unmourned. 
There is one union and its miscarriage 

Makes all life's discord, by virtue scorned. 

Law was given, the Word was spoken : 

''A man forsaking all else must cleave 
To one." This union lives on unbroken 

By death or time, though they both bereave. 
God given, man taken, once, once only, 

Through life and death is the bond made true. 
I love you, darling, though life be lonely, 

I wait, as elsewhere for me wait you. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 33 



SEPARATION. 



There is not a word that you could say, 

Or I would care to hear, 
To bring you near to me, day by day, 

As the Silence brings you, dear. 



What shall I do that the hours be sped 
And the waiting time be past ? 

How could I bear it if you were dead? 
O God, if this should last ! 



34 THE UNI'ORGOTTEN 



THE REQUISITE. 

Could I have kept the sound of your voice 

I had given God the rest, 
Nor mourned, since with angels you rejoice, 

And life in heaven is best. 
I could have borne my life, could have said, 

We are not riven apart, 
And whom my soul loves, he is not dead 

But speaketh unto my heart. 



I could renounce from the daily sight, 

Could yield from my empty arms, 
Nor question aught of the spirit's right 

To shield you from earth's alarms, 
If, through the hours of the lonely day, 

Or once in the age-long night 
Your voice could sound, where I cannot pray. 

I would grudge not touch nor sight. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 35 



UNVISIONED. 

heed my calling! the sun shines bright, 
The white clouds float in the azure sky. 

1 linger near, but you have no sight 

For that which seen would but cause affright. 
O I stand and ,wait_, close by, close by, 
O listen dearest ! and heed my cry, 

I may but linger till falls the night. 

let me in, for the wind moans low ! 

The night and the cold draw close and near. 
The dark'ning air has a hint of snow. 

1 wait beside, but you do not know, 
For you cannot see me, O my dear ! 

And if you could you would feel but fear, 
And so I turn from your door and go. 



36 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



WIDOWED INDEED. 

Pity the widowed in her desolation : 

What sadder fate than such 
Could overtake ? What further desecration 

Befall from Sorrow's touch? 
Yet wins she something for her consolation 

From out the Grave's fell clutch. 



What greater blow could fall ? but one, one only. 

Grief hath one subtler form ; 
She might walk through Life's paths more 
crushed and lonely, 
In a yet fiercer storm. 
Now she has memory through Life's lasting 
winter 
To keep her sad heart warm. 



But if her dead yet lived, were parted from her 

By only night and day, 
If the sun shone and winds blew soft upon her, 

As sometimes chance they may. 
From some near-sundered land, where from his 
summer 

Her love were thrust away? 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 37 

Grave's mouth is naught beside the sadder parting 

Disloyalty doth show. 
The dead are true, where 'neath the daisies start- 
ing 
They lie and wait below. 
If they could speak they'd ease the bitter smart- 
ing: 
"Beloved, grieve not so." 



She who hath lost her trust is widowed truly — 

And bitter is her need. 
She v/ho keeps faith with Love is strengthened 
duly, 
This is Love's simple creed, 
Not death but life proves Love ; un faith makes 
newly 
The widowed and indeed. 



38 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



REALIZATION. 

I thought that I knew, when the sun shone upon 
you, 
When your form cast a shadow and Death was 
a threat, 
I thought that I knew (God have mercy upon 
me) 
Ere blackness of darkness encompassed me yet. 

I thought I could know with your foot on the 
stairway 
The sound of a Silence that never abates ; 
That I could surmise with your face in the door- 
wav 
The meaning of loss when Death's touch de- 
vastates. 

I thought I could know, when the sound of your 
laughter 
Dispelled my despair and made mock of my 
tears. 
The force of the blow when, in days to come after, 
I should stagger beneath it through limitless 
years. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 39 

I thought — and I said in my haste, what an angel 
Might fear, in his Hmitless learning, to tell — 

One could feel, with Love breathing beside his 
evangel, 
The terror, through fear, of a compassing hell. 

I thought, but I knew not the depth of disaster, 

The height of despair, or the anguish to come. 

What shall separate us from the love of the 

Master, 

Shall our love for our dead and the parting 

therefrom? 



40 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



IGNORANCE. 

O never tell me of it, if you miss me, when the 

blue 
And gold of summer fold me from mortality and 

you. 
O never tell me of it, if you miss me when the 

night 
With its star-strewn floor between us hides me 

from your human sight. 



For I could not sense the color, nor the starry 

reaches blue. 
If I heard my asking echo in the heart and soul of 

you. 
And the many mansioned heaven, reached through 

tardy, dragging years 
Like earth's pent-house would enclose me, if you 

called me through your tears. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 41 



APRIL WEATHER. 



April' weather, you'd jes' think the sun 
Never meant to shine agen, skies all dark and dun, 
Then a blaze of glory, not a cloud in sight, 
Seems like what is runnin' things 'd never git it 
right. 

April weather, pretty close to May, 

Hear the robins jawin' 'bout it every day, 

Perkin' up and tellin' all about the run 

Of bad luck they're havin' sense the spring begun. 

April weather, jes', and no man knows 
When the wind's a kitin' from which way it blows. 
Awful tryin' season. It don't seem to me 
Sky's as bright and clear and blue as it ust to 
be. 

Got to quit my speechin' and see about the work. 
Neighbors mebbe have some right, callin' me a 

shirk. 
Alius laughin', sneerin', cause I hear and know 
Other things in spring than rain, while the green 
things grow. 



42 THE UNFORGOTTEN 

There's no use a talkin' wisht' I'd never had 
One more sense than other folks, makes me so 

blame mad. 
Wisht' the work was further, wisht' I'd time to 

say 
Jes' how glad I am the year's gittin' into May. 



April Weather, jes' a year to-day — 
God ! to think about it — sense she went away ; 
'Nd me a beggin,' prayin,' I might go with her. 
Er else she'd tell me 'bout the place she was start- 
in' fer. 



"Where's your Christian faith, man?" all the 

preachers say, 
Rubbin' in a smartin' wound when they come to 

pray. 
I can't make them understand hdw it run aground 
Such a little slab of stone and a tiny mound. 



Wonder ef she's found out ! wonder ef she's sure ! 

Wonder ef she feels now all that I endure ! 

I knew more of heaven when Lucy Janes could 

speak 
'N a raft of preachers could tell me in a week. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 43 

I don't doubt that heaven's somewhere, shinin,' 

strong, 
Can't be changed ner altered jes' by one man's 

wrong. 
Know this, sure and certain, lived once in that 

state, 
'Fore last April left me all disconsolate. 

Yes I'm sure of heaven, but what tries me more 
Is jes' what a man kin do when God shets the 

door. 
There's so much of hunger and so little food, 
Mebbe ef he's been there once, that is all he 

should. 

Mebbe there warn't quite enough — seems so when 

its found — 
Bliss to last forevermore, 'nd it's passed around : 
Jes' a taste of rapture, then an awful thirst 
For an endless time of love, stronger than the 

first. 

I don't know egsactly what I'd say or do 

Ef she'd come and kiss me, ef my dreams came 

true, 
Ef some April mornin', when the sun shines 

bright, 
I should see her standin', shinin' on my sight. 



44 THE UNFORGOTTEN 

Think I'd go plumb crazy, wouldn't need a word. 
I'd forgive the year that's gone, sense I've seen 

or heard. 
I'd forgive a Hfetime, all that men endure, 
Ef only, while I'm waitin', I could jes' be sure. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 45 



SUBTRACTION. 

This world's a mighty lonesome place 
When you take one from two. 

It seems a never endin' space 
For one to wander through, 

Knowin' he'll never find the face 
He's been accustomed to. 



This World's the lonesomest they make 
When you take one from one. 

Some folks'll say when this you take 
It leaves naught for your sum. 

I've tried, I know, through the heartache 
The answer that'll come. 



When you take naught from naught there's still 

A somethin' even then 
That moves with weakened hope and will 

Among his fellow men, 
Somethin' left grindin' at the mill 

For no life's use again. 



46 THE UNFORGOTTEN 

There's somethin' left that don't know how 

To learn, and can't forget. 
He drags his has beens into now, 

Nor solves his problem yet. 
Come, Master of the ignorant, 

And some new tasking set. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 47 

THE VISIBLE. 

I watched, as far as I could see, 

The form that held Love's worth for me 

Go onward to the daily task ; 

And something in my soul did ask — 

As one by one the questions came — 

"How could you live, what should you do 

If this, Love's meaning, ceased for you? 

If no tomorrow were the same. 

If this, one atom 'mid the vast 

Unquiet universe were cast 

Aside? as daily many pass 

From light and Hfe and love, alas!" 

I thought, throughout the busy day, 

Of this dear symbol, Love had sent. 

And what perpetual banishment 

Would mean, until I could not pray. 

Until, at last, a legend sweet — 

Read long ago and carelessly — 

Came to my mind to comfort me.* ^ - 

It .was of one whose hands and feet 

In some past agony were lost 

To pay, for his soul's sake, the cost. 



♦Olive Schreiner's, ''Dreams/' 



48 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



And, through the nearest heaven of all 
The angels carried him, with call 
Of praise and shouts of joy, that each 
Who heard should, jubilant, draw near 
Unto the maimed to see and hear, 
And on their shoulders help to bear 
His triumph through the heavens there. 
While from the stricken stumps there shone 
A dazzling light and warmth that made 
The maimed one a mighty aid. 



And where in heaven existed need 
This shining one was borne indeed 
That flowers might hasten to put forth 
Their fairest bloom., as this, Love's worth 
Drew near, acclaimed by Love's own. 



But one made question : *T had thought 
Of heaven as perfectness and here 
The greatest is found incomplete." 
And one made answer low, yet clear, 
''Think you Love needeth hands or feet?' 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 49 

Slowly, from out the heavens' sphere 

I turned to daily duties near, 

And yet, upheld by rarer air, 

I walked, no more oppressed by care. 

Since Love made all things that are made 

How can I be by Love betrayed? 

O nobleness, that asks until 

Men reach in turn the greater Will ! 

O Love, that yearns, vv^hile worlds are made. 

For understanding! until man 

Grasps through his soul the mighty Plan, 

And strives his God to render aid. 

The symbols fade, the symbols fall. 
The symbols pass, and yet, and yet 
Love is not lost — till we forget. 



POEMS 

OF THE 

BORDERLAND 



51 



\^y ATCHES at night, when the lights burn 
low, 
And shadows stealthily stir and slink — 
Whisperings dread of a nearing foe — 
Airs from an unseen river's brink — 

Something cold in the firelight's gleam, 
Something strange in the wonted place, 

Fears prescient — while loved ones dreami — 
Of a tomorrow that comes apace. 

No man knows of the day or hour, 
Who shall be chosen, no man knows, 

Meeting singly the foeman's power 
Into the Silence each one goes. 



53 



TRANSITION. 

A cruel thing, a hard thing 

Life's grip proves upon men. 
In their last, losing struggle 

Life yields by inches then. 
At evening and at morning, 

Slowly and yet more slow, 
Driaining'the lees of being. 

Life's vanquished victims go. 



But sometimes, O sometimes 

Comes an unguarded day, 
And an unnoted portal 

Gleams through Life's cruel sway 
A moment swiftly passing, 

The ceasing of a breath — 
Life's tyranny eluded — - 

May bring the peace of Death. 



55 



56 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



THE SUMMONSING. 

The awe of it! and yet as Death, 

In all his pomp and power, draws near 
To ease me of my failing* breath — 
Since his great rule none gainsayeth, 
Why, of all nature, should I fear ? 



There were so many little things 
To no one's harm in my intent, 

Such store of vain imaginings 
To work into accomplishment, 

Such plans and hopes that should befall. 

Had not Death come to end them all. 



The awe of it ! that unto me 

The mystery should swift descend 

That, through the years, remorselessly 

Hath gathered to Eternity 
Lover and comrade, kin and friend. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 57 

There are so many things undone, 
So man'}j words I might have said, 

Such wealth of Love left all unzvon 
Front hearts I might have comforted: 

The ozve of it is great, and yet — 

Greater than awe there looms regret. 



58 , THE UNFORGOTTEN 



INTERMEDIATENESS. 

First I sank down, space after space, 
It seemed an endless way. 

Around the verge of my descent 
Men moved, and it was day. 



(But I knew neither day nor night. 
Nor could I zvill or pray.) 



And then for me all motion ceased, 

As it had ne'er begun. 
What was it that my life had missed? 

What was it it had won? 



(/ knew not, in the silences 
Loss, gain, they are as one.) 



Will something shock this senseless thing 

To fresh activity, 
To any further reckoning 

Of life's supreme decree? 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 59 

(/ knozu not, come ye zvho would know 
And reach — uncertainty.) 



6o THE UNFORGOTTEN 



THE SOJOURNER. 

When I came to live with Life 
She was rich and fine ; 
All she had she offered me, 
Mine to play with, mine to be, 
Mine, all mine! 

Life had other guests to please, 
Offered all her store. 
Stronger grasp than mine had they, 
Stole her largess day by day 
Until Life grew poor. 

Now the time has come for me 
Some new friend to choose ; 
Grantor who will let me keep, 
Through the mists of Death and Sleep, 
All Life let me lose. 

As I go from Life's domain. 
Of her wonders shown 
And withheld from each demand. 
Of my hungry heart and hand 
What is made my own? 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 6i 

All unwise I came to Life, 
All unwise I go, 

From the sunlight and the day, 
From the mirth and song away, 
Whither, none may know — 

Or if One shall comfort me 
When Life's jest shall cease; 
If the dark shall hide a friend, 
Waiting at the journey's end, 
Prodigal of peace. 



62 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



THE GATEWAY. 



It's a good way out, and I do not fear — 

When the door is swung for me — 
To leave the realm of the certain here 

For the future mystery. 
If naught awaits us the end is peace, 

And one knows, and one is sure. 
It's a good way out for the soul's release 

When it need no more endure. 



It's a good way out, and there is no need 

For my soul to harbor dread. 
Thus, ere my birth, were earth's millions freed. 

And shall be when I am dead. 
I cannot tread on an untried path, 

Nor suffer an unfelt fear. 
So I know in mercy and not in wrath 

Was the exit made from here. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 63 

It's a good way out, and you must not think, 

If you think of me at all, 
That I was not glad to lie down and sink 

In the outer darkness' pall — 
For there was not room, and I did not know, 

And my soul was sore amazed, 
Yet am I sure that the way we go 

Is a good way, God be praised ! 

It's a good way out, for my friend has gone^ 

And his friend, and many more ; 
And every one in the past has won 

To his freedom through this door. 
I called my friend woman, child or man ; 

But we are in truth all one. 
And I can go where my brother can, 

And do as my friend has done. 



64 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



LET IT BE SUDDEN. 



If I have won the right to ask a guerdon, 
If in life's losing struggle I have won 

Right to one kindness, easing of one burden, 
This were my asking ere the chance is done. 



Let it be sudden at the last, the wrenching 
Of soul and spirit from the house of clay, 

Let there be no time for a vain retrenching, 
Yielding by inches, seeking still delay. 



Let it be sudden, that my friends be saddened, 
Shocked at the summons, lest indeed they be, 

Worn and out wearied, at the last but gladdened 
At Death's subduing soul and frame of me. 



If I have won the right to ask a guerdon — 
I who have lost all else beside such right — 

This would I ask when I lay down the burden 
Let it be sudden — the darkness and the night. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 65 

Let it be sudden, that I may not falter — 

This change that Wisdom preordains Ufe's best, 

This mystery that hope nor fear may alter — 
Sudden and swift my entrance into rest. 



66 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



A WEARINESS. 

It grew upon me, when the sun 
Sank westward, or the orison 
Of birds proclaimed the eastern light; 
It claimed my being day and night. * 
If I would love, or pray, or bless, 
God's meed from me — a weariness. 



It strengthened with the months that stole 
Resolve and purpose from my soul. 
Until at last I ceased to care 
Another's joy or grief to share; 
And all regret and all distress 
Merged for me in a weariness. 



It seems almost, when I lie dumb 
Through darkened hours till mornings come, 
Or while I draw each laboring breath 
Through light that comfort gainsay eth. 
That sharpest agony were less 
To bear than this — my weariness. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 67 

I make no plaint, the world swings on, 
I watch awhile — my journey done — 
Life's mighty, surging forces fill 
The spheres of good, the planes of ill. 
Waiting God's touch I acquiesce 
Till Love shall end my weariness. 



68 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



WHEN I AWAKE. 

I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy like- 
ness. — Psalms 17-15. 

I shall be satisfied when I awake, 

Not when the mists of Death o'ercloud my 
brow, 
When I, in spirit, of God's life partake, 

I shall be satisfied, ever and now. 

When I awake from dreams of earth and care, 
When I have turned from pleasure's sense 
aside. 

When I to Conscious Love surrender, there 
Transformed, renewed, I shall be satisfied. 

When I awake I satisfied shall be, 

The time, the place, the will, these are my own. 
O Christ of God, triumphant ! quicken me, 

Until I waken in Thy likeness shown. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 69 



THE SPECTRE. 

It rises with my waking, 
It sinks into my night, 

Only in dreams forsaking 
The terror of its blight. 



Its footfall has no sounding. 
Its horror has no form, 

And yet life's strength abounding 
Nor makes, nor keeps, me warm. 



My eyes have never seen it, 
My ears have never heard, 

And evermore between it 
And me there is no word. 



I pile the firewood higher 
Upon the hearthstone warm. 

The lamplight and the fire 
Shine bravely o'er the storm. 



70 THE UNFORGOTTEN 

I gaze from sheltered ingle 
Where other home fires bright 

In galaxies commingle 

And vanish through the night. 

And still the questions thicken 
From voiceless, unseen foe, 

"What will you do when stricken ? 
Where will you, helpless, go?" 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 71 



MINE ENEMY. 



Hoping at the turn 

Where the road is steep 
That I some day unprepared 

Mine enemy may meet — 
Not my famiHar friend 

To bring me woes anew, 
But mine honest enemy 

Stanch-hearted, leal, and true ; 
The one whose threatened blow 

I from my life must fend — 
Hoping to see mine enemy. 

Not my familiar friend. 



Hoping when we meet 

I may be alone, 
The blow be sharp and fleet 

When I to him atone. 



72 THE UNFORGOTTEN 

That I may bear no shield, 
No sword to cause delay 

When, debtor to mine enemy, 
I turn from life away. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 73 



INCOMPETENT LOVE. 

Incompetent Love went into the earth, 

Taking the woman who scorned him or craved, 

Stilling life's passion and quenching life's worth 
Naught of Love's effort was captured or saved. 



Incompetent Love went into the sky, 

Taking the soul from earth's empire away ; 

What did Love seek to life's need to supply? 
Ask the tomorrow that conquers to-day. 



Incompetent Love went unto God's throne — 
God alone knew and God only cared 

That, when the living and dying were through, 
Love and the human His mystery shared. 



74 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



INEQUALITY. 



There is a distant place that men call Heaven, 

It is so far away ; 
Beyond the changing portals of the dawning, 

Beyond the realm of day. 
Beyond the utter darkness of the midnight, 

And past the evening star, 
And no one ever turns from it to tell us 

What Heaven's raptures are. 
And no one ever cares to share with others 

His certitude of bliss, 
And so the living are unsure of Heaven, 

Of what and where it is. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 75 

It it were not so far ! if one were certain 

Of that strange, distant grace, 
Who would endure the loss and limitation 

That thwarts the human race? 
If it were near, as near as Hell! if only 

It could be understood, 
Save through the smirch and soil of evil's know- 
ledge 

That turns our souls to good. 
If it be naught, indeed, save a pure fancy 

Of rest evolved from pain. 
Yet Oh, to feel, nor lose the sweet illusion 

While life and thought remain. 



The realm of Hell is near, so close, so binding. 

We cannot 'scape to see 

What God may hold for us of greater living 

Than Hell's fierce ecstasy, 
Closer to us than breath that fills our nostrils, 

Than limbs or feet or hands. 

Is this that nourisheth the human spirit. 

And granteth its demands. 



I(i THE UNFORGOTTEN 

If it were far, if Hell were far as Heaven! 

If only for a day . 
To change the worlds — or were they equidistant, 

Not one so far away. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 77 



PRESENTIMENT. 

He did not know it was to be the last 

That he should see — the summer that is past. 

He did not fear there was no other one 

For him — but Oh! "The southing of the sun." 

He did not hope, for Hope assurance brings, 
He was sure only of vague whisperings, 

Premonitory hints of unknown cheer. 
Of everlastingness, grown strangely near. 



78 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



MY OWN. 

In what far star live they to whom 
My spirit calls by night and day? 

How shall I find them through earth's gloom, 
Ere cease the hours of my delay? 

How lapsed I from my place within 
The mighty ranks whose call I hear? 

Why am I distant from my kin ? 
How am I fallen from my sphere ? 

Sometimes I hear soft whisperings, 
Or faint, far strains of music blown, 

Or feel the rush of passing wings — 
These echoes reach me of my own. 

But never in my deepest sleep 
. Have I beheld, or glimpsed, or known 
An image in the silence deep 
Of form or feature of my own. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 79 

Sometimes I hear the words they say, 

I can remember voice and tone, 
And then I know, not far away, 

But close beside me are my own. 

But Oh, to see the legions bright. 
While here on earth I walk alone ! 

To know, though once, the spirit's sight 
That separates me from my own. 



8o THE UNFORGOTTEN 



THE COMFORTER. 

put your arms beneath my head, 
For I no more can lift and raise 
Myself as in the former days. 

1 would be comforted. 

There is no friend to still the pain 
That living causeth heart and brain. 

Monarch of the dead — 

1 call you with my faltering breath ! 
Ease me from Pain's domain as you 
The w^eary and the useless do, 
With peace that comforteth. 

I long for you, who walk apart, 
Come near and clasp me to your heart, 
And love me, love me, Death ! 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 8i 



THE SHADOWS. 

Where I lay upon the grass 
I saw three shadows wave and pass, 
And one was Youth and one was Hope, 
And Love the last. 

Where I stood before life's end, 

Striving Honor to defend, 

I fought where shadows meet and blend. 

Fought and grappled with Despair, 
Followed Fear unto his lair. 
Found Defeat the monarch there. 

Where I lay beneath the sod 
On two shades the angels trod 
Life and Death, the light was God. 



82 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



THE INCENSE OF THE BURNING. 



The Incense of the Burning 

Goes up to God on high ; 
The sacrifice, the yearning 

For life of men that die. 
And back unto the nostrils 

That breathed in man his Hf e 
Ascends the plan's resulting, 

The Incense of the strife. 



The Incense is compounded 

Of sweet and bitter things, 
Of hopes, by life confounded, 

And tears that sorrow brings. 
Of rapture and of anguish, • 

Youth's lute and Age's pen, 
And griefs that never languish 

While on the earth live men. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 83 

The Incense of the Burning 

Ascends, a savor sweet, 
To God whose clear discerning 

Views earth and heaven complete. 
Men's souls, God's image spurning. 

Send forth a bitter cry. 
As Incense from' the Burning 

We rise to God on high. 



84 THE UNFORGOTTEN 

THE MESSENGER. 

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet 
of him that bringeth good tidings, that pubHsheth 
peace, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth ! 

For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by 
flight : for the Lord will go before you ; and the 
God of Israel will be your rereward.* 

One came unto the prison house — 

Who conquered long ago 
Its bars of flesh and pangs of pain — 

Its bondage to o'erthrow. 
One came unto the prison house, 

In no man's sight stood He, 
Yet slowly swung the gates and wide, 

And set the prisoner free. 

One came unto the prison house 

Undaunted by its gloom. 
With faces lifted to the stars. 

With feet upon the tomb. 
Invisibly and soundlessly, 

Forth to eternal day, 
From pain to peace, from night to light, 

Two went therefrom away. 

*Isa .52-7-12. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 85 



WHO SHALL COME? 

Who shall come, knocking at my door, 
When my hand may lift the latch 
Never, nevermore? 

Who shall come, seek to be my guest. 
When I, from a fireless hearth 
Turn unto my rest? 

Who shall come, in some future day. 
When, my need immerged in rest, 
I have gone away? 

Who shall come, asking love of me, 
When I neither know nor want. 
Neither hear nor see ? 

Who shall come, many men or few? 
Where no grieving mars Love's worth 
All may Life renew. 

Who shall come, iwhere no voice is heard, 
Who shall seek and who shall find 
My love's given "Word?" 



86 THE UNFORGOTTEN 

Who shall come? Lo, Love's very own, 
They to whom is Love declared 
And its purpose shown. 

Who shall come to Love's empty gate? 
Every one for whom Love sought, 
Though the time is late. 

W^ho shall come? all for whom I lack- 
All my own shall enter here 
Though I come not back. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 87 



DECORATION DAY. 

The scorching of the sun, the wild wind's raving, 

The mantle of the snow, 
The tempest's scourging and the rain drop's lav- 
ing 

The changing seasons know. 
All these are past, again the summer lingers 

A moment, while the spring 
Drops of her bounty, through slow, trailing fin- 
gers. 

Her wealth of blossoming. 

And once a year we pause and life remember, 

And once a year we spend 
The flowers and blossoms that the spring days 
tender 

On kinsman and on friend. 

On soldier and civilian rests the token, 

The heart will have it so. 
On him whose life laid down for right hath 
spoken. 

And on his vanquished foe. 



88 THE UNFORGOTTEN 

We celebrate with speech and song and story, 

With blossoms of the May, 
Those who have passed beyond earth's meed oi 
glory, 
, Or Decoration Day. 

And once a year we give of time's swift measure 

A day to memory, 
A thought to those who hold the endless treasure 

We call Eternity, 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 89 



TERRA INCOGNITA. 



Far up it lies, up the lone mountain side, 
Far as the soul can see, it shines alone, 
No pathway reaches to its portal wide. 

No milestone unto men the road hath shown. 
The homes of men lie at the mountain's base. 
In my home still among them I abide, 
Yet not with them is my appointed place. 



Lo, I have seen it, when the mists were gray 
Upon the valleys and my strength was low, 

Suddenly, while I rested, all the way 

Was flashed upon me that my feet should go; 

Between us stretched no miles of conquering 
space, 

No irksome bond of hindering night or day. 

Serene I gazed on my appointed place. 



90 THE UNFORGOTTEN 

And I have heard the music surging through 
Its many courts and m.ansions while I stood 

Absorbed in longing — and the fruit that grew 
Within its stormless gardens has been good 

Unto my famished lips. Then not a trace 

Remained, while o'er my path the night winds 
blew 

Between me and my own appointed place. 



Among its many corridors is one 

That I have helped to fashion with this hand. 
I know the pattern of the Corner Stone. 

Through nights and days of labor I have plan- 
ned. 
Each portion of that Mansion's wondrous grace. 
Through Life's long, bitter bondage I have won 
The freedom of my own appointed place. 



1 shall lay down upon the mountain's side 

The broken tool that helped me win my own, 
For unto it the portal is denied 

Within whose shelter I must stand alone. 
I may take with me nothing that is base : 
For flesh and blood are alien, nor abide, 
Nor share with me in my appointed place. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 91 

Yet do I reverence that without whose aid 
My place were not my own, nor fairly won : 

At Death's transcending moment, sore afraid 
At parting from it, shall I journey on 

Through the vast realm of darkened, starless 
space 

Beyond whose terror Love waits undismayed 

My entrance into His appointed place. 



92 THE UNFORGOTTEN 



VICTORY. 

As I lay a dying, a dying, 

The noise rolled up from the street, 
Where men were selling and buying — 

For the day was incomplete — 
Till the quiet chamber echoed 

With the tread of their restless feet. 



As I lay a dying, a dying, 

The faces came and went, 
The living faces were crying, 

But the dead ones looked content — 
'T was the only way I could tell them, 

So closely were they blent. 



As I lay a dying, a dying, 

I took back the words I had said 

Against God's grace in denying 
The hour for which I had prayed. 

I was strong to forgive my existence, 
The hour before I was dead. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN 93 

As I lay a dying, a dying, 

Was hushed Life's bitter moan. 
The heartache ceased from its crying 

At Life's injustice shown. 
I had thought at the last God would hear it, 

But I iwent on alone. 

As I lay a dying, a dying, 

O friends, / never died. 
I reached Love's truth, whose denying 

Had caused all griefs betide. 
But I lost all griefs in the passing, 

Lo, with Death's self they died. 



CONTENTS 



Page 

DEDICATION 3 

UNITY 5 

THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 7 

VERSE 9 

THE SEPARATE ii 

COMPARISON 12 

IMPERFECTION 14 

BECAUSE 16 

ACROSS THE WOLD 17 

THE SHADOW 18 

PREFIGURED 20 

LIFE'S MOCKERY 21 

THE TRAITOR 22 

REALITY 24 

THE BARRIER 25 

RELINQUISHMENT 28 

IRREVERENCE , 30 

SUBSTITUTION 31 

SEPARATION 33 

THE REQUISITE 34 

UNVISIONED 35 

WIDOWED INDEED .36 

REALIZATION 38 

IGNORANCE 40 

APRIL WEATHER ■ 41 

SUBTRACTION 45 

THE VISIBLE 47 

VERSES (FOREBODING) kt, 

TRANSITION crc: 

THE SUMMONSING 56 

INTERMEDIATENESS 58 

THE SOJOURNER 60 



THE GATEWAY ....62 

LET IT BE SUDDEN 64 

A WEARINESS ....66 

WHEN I AWAKE 68 

THE SPECTRE 69 

MINE ENEMY 71 

INCOMPETENT LOVE -jz 

INEQUALITY 74 

PRESENTIMENT ^77 

MY OWN .78 

THE COMFORTER 80 

THE SHADOWS 81 

THE INCENSE OF THE BURNING 82 

THE MESSENGER 84 

WHO SHALL COME? 85 

DECORATION DAY 87 

TERRA INCOGNITA 89 

VICTORY 92 



